Systems and methods for metering and analyzing energy consumption of events within a portable device

• US 9,222,963 B2
• Filed: 11/29/2013
• Issued: 12/29/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Original Assignee: The Nielsen Company LLC (MOOD Media Corporation)
• Inventors: Houston, John, Ramaswamy, Arun, Hopkins, Brian
• Primary Examiner(s): Le, John H
• Application Number:
  US14/093,338
• Publication Number:
  US 20140088895A1
• Time in Patent Office: 760 Days
• Field of Search: 702 60- 63, 702/80, 702/89, 702/176, 702/183, 702/188, 702/189, 455/187.1, 455/566, 455/574, 713/300, 713/323, 716/111, 716/2
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 21/133 by using digital technique
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 22/10 using digital techniques
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0258 controlling an operation mode according to history or models of usage information, e.g. activity schedule or time of day
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

System and methods to determine the energy consumption per event type from usage data of portable devices are described. An example method includes accessing battery usage data for a first portable device, the battery usage data comprising a plurality of measurements, the measurements including an energy usage by the first portable device during a first time period and an identification of software functions executed by the first portable device during the first time period, and determining at portion of the energy usage attributable to a first one of the software functions based on the measurements.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

accessing, with a processor, first battery usage data for a first portable device, the first battery usage data including an energy usage by the first portable device during a first time period and an identification of software functions executed by the first portable device during the first time period;

accessing, with the processor, second battery usage data for a second portable device, the second battery usage data including an energy usage by the second portable device during a second time period and an identification of software functions executed by the second portable device during the second time period; and

determining, with the processor, a portion of the energy usage by the first and second portable devices attributable to a first one of the software functions based on the first and second battery usage data of the first and second portable devices.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first battery usage data identifies a hardware function used by the first portable device during the first time period.

3. A method as defined in claim 2, further including determining a portion of the energy usage attributable to the hardware function.

4. An apparatus, comprising:

an event log memory to store first battery usage data for a first portable device, the first battery usage data including an energy usage by the first portable device during a first time period and an identification of software functions executed by the first portable device during the first time period;

the event log memory to store second battery usage data for a second portable device, the second battery usage data including an energy usage by the second portable device during a second time period and an identification of software functions executed by the second portable device during the second time period; and

a logic circuit to determine a portion of the energy usage by the first and second portable devices attributable to a first one of the software functions based on the first and second battery usage data of the first and second devices.

5. An apparatus as defined in claim 4, wherein the first battery usage data includes a hardware function used by the first portable device during the first time period.

6. An apparatus as defined in claim 5, wherein the logic circuit is to execute computer readable instructions to determine energy usage attributable to the hardware function.

7. A tangible computer readable storage medium comprising computer readable instructions which, when executed, cause a processor to at least:

access first battery usage data for a first portable device, the first battery usage data including an energy usage by the first portable device during a first time period and an identification of software functions executed by the first portable device during the first time period;

access second battery usage data for a second portable device, the second battery usage data including an energy usage by the second portable device during a second time period and an identification of software functions executed by the second portable device during the second time period; and

determine the energy usage by the first and second portable devices attributable to a first one of the software functions based on the first and second battery usage data of the first and second portable devices.

8. A storage medium as defined in claim 7, wherein the first battery usage data identifies a hardware function used by the first portable device during the first time period.

9. A storage medium as defined in claim 8, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to determine a portion of the energy usage attributable to the hardware function.

10. A method, comprising:

collecting data associated with applications executing on a first device during a first period of time, the data including an amount of energy consumed by a portion of the first device during the first period of time;

collecting data associated with applications executing on a second device during a second period of time, the data including an amount of energy consumed by a portion of the second device during the second period of time;

determining, with a processor, an amount of energy consumed by a first one of the applications based on the amount of energy consumed by the portions of the first and second devices; and

outputting a representation of the energy consumed by the first application.

11. A method as defined in claim 10, wherein the representation identifies the amount of energy consumed per unit of time by the first application.

12. A method as defined in claim 10, wherein the representation identifies energy consumed by the first application during a second period of time later than the first period of time.